The present invention relates generally to the funeral products industry, and more particularly, to a cemetery memorial including storage that may be accessed after the memorial has been placed in the cemetery to store the cremation remains of a future decedent.
Cremation is a growing segment of the funeral industry and there is a growing demand for new and innovative products to personalize and commemorate the lives of the deceased. The use of plastic bags or cardboard boxes to preserve and store cremation remains is not a desirable method of honoring the lives of loved ones.
There is a continuing demand in the funeral industry for new designs and styles of funeral products, particularly products that provide for a holistic approach for memorializing the lives of the deceased and bringing comfort to the family members of the deceased. Very few options are available for family members to have an individual or family cemetery memorial for a cremated decedent without the ashes of the decedent being buried in the ground or placed in a columbarium.
Cremation remains systems are disclosed in Muthusami U.S. Pat. No. 8,286,314 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,490,258, incorporated herein in their entity by reference. A capsule containing the cremation remains may be embeded in the memorial at the time that it is constructed. The capsule and cremation remains are completely concealed from view so that visitors to the cemetery and more particularly vandals will not be able to distinguish the cremation memorial from the other cemetery memorials. Only family members of the decedent and the cemetery management may know that the cremation remains of the decedent are embedded in the memorial.
There remains a need however for a cemetery memorial that provide a means for the storage of cremation remains in a memorial at a time after the memorial has been placed at a cemetery. Currently, cremation remains may be stored in a cemetery memorial at the time that the cemetery memorial is placed at a cemetery. Storing cremation remains in an existing memorial may be done but at considerable expense, as it would require equipment and personnel at the cemetery site to drill a compartment in the memorial and seal the decedent's remains therein.